vectigal

English

Etymology

Noun

vectigal (plural vectigals)

(obsolete) A tax.

Latin

Etymology

Substantivized neuter singular of vectīgālis, from *vectīgum +‎ -ālis, from Proto-Indo-European *wektih₂ǵom (“fee for vehicle-driving”),^[1] synchronically analyzable as vectis +‎ agō +‎ um. When this noun was compounded, vectis had a different meaning than it has in classical Latin.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /u̯ekˈtiː.ɡal/, [u̯ɛkˈt̪iːɡäɫ̪]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /vekˈti.ɡal/, [vekˈt̪iːɡäl]

Noun

vectīgal n (genitive vectīgālis); third declension

tax, tribute, (public) revenue
- Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum; Paradox VI, 49
  O di immortales! non intellegunt homines, quam magnum vectigal sit parsimonia.
  O immortal gods! People do not understand how great a revenue parsimony can be.
(figuratively) windfall, profit, (private) revenue

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	vectīgal	vectīgālia
genitive	vectīgālis	vectīgālium vectīgāliōrum
dative	vectīgālī	vectīgālibus
accusative	vectīgal	vectīgālia
ablative	vectīgālī	vectīgālibus
vocative	vectīgal	vectīgālia

Related terms

References

^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “vehō”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 658

“vectigal”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“vectigal”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
vectigal in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

[1] De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “vehō”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 658

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